Counting of Bengaluru civic body's votes begins

Bengaluru, Aug 25: Counting of votes polled on Saturday, Aug 22 to elect representatives of the Bengaluru civic corporation began on Tuesday amid tight security, an official said.

"Arrangements have been made at 27 centres across the city to count votes polled in 197 civic wards and results are expected by late afternoon," Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner Kumar G. Naik told reporters here on Monday.

Around 49.31 percent of polling was registered from 197 wards across the city, as over 36-lakh of the total 74 lakh voters exercised franchise in the day-long election, marred by irregularities and rains.

"Counting will begin at 8 a.m. and will take about two hours to complete, with two or three rounds in each ward depending on the number of votes polled," Naik said.

Though the expanded BBMP has 198 wards, polling was not held in one ward, as BJP candidate Bharati Ramachandra, 45, was declared elected from the Hongasandra (ward 189) after the nomination of Congress candidate K. Maheshwari was rejected on August 13 for submitting a fake caste certificate.

The century-old BBMP was expanded in 2007 by including seven city municipal councils and one town municipal council and 111 surrounding villages to increase civic wards to 198 from 100.

In all, 1,120 candidates, including 197, 198 and 187 from the BJP, the ruling Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) respectively, a dozen from regional outfits like Vatala Chaluvali Paksha, AIADMK and Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and 399 Independents, including many as rebels are in the fray.

In the previous five-year term (2010-2015), the BJP ruled the BBMP for the first time by winning in 116 wards, as against 62 wards by the Congress, 14 by JD-S and eight by Independents.

IANS